The present invention relates to a portable code reading device. Portable code reading devices, in particular for reading optical codes, are known in which a hand-held casing houses an optical beam emitting (e.g. LED) device for lighting an optical code, in particular a bar code, and a viewing device (e.g. a CCD sensor) for receiving the radiation diffused by the optical code and conveyed to the viewing device by a focusing device on the casing. Known reading devices comprise an electronic microprocessor circuit for processing the electric signals from the viewing device and generating a succession of digital data representing optical-code-associated characters, and which may be memorized in a memory unit cooperating with the microprocessor, and later transferred to a remote processing unit, e.g. a personal computer.
The memorized data is transferred to the personal computer via an interface known commercially as a WEDGE, and which provides for establishing an electric data transmission connection between the connection port of the personal computer keyboard and an output of the reading device in which the digital data is memorized. Known interfaces also provide for maintaining the data transfer connection between the personal computer keyboard and the computer itself, and therefore for transmitting the memorized digital data or the decoded results and the data from the keyboard to the connection port of the personal computer keyboard. Besides actual transfer of the memorized data, data transfer procedures also involve several other commands, e.g. option selection, accessory data entry, transfer confirmation, etc.
Modern personal computers also employ graphic interface programs in which a movable graphic pointer is used to impart various commands necessary to operation of the program.